Nevada Online Gambling Licensee Profile: SHFL Entertainment

This is one of a series of profiles covering companies that hold a license to participate in Nevada’s online gambling market.

Shuffle Master (SHFL Entertainment Inc.) is a gaming company that manufactures a number of popular casino games and casino products, including, –who would have guessed—automatic shuffling machines!

In addition to the stranglehold the company has on the shuffling machine market, selling everything from inexpensive home shufflers to supplying casinos with built-in shuffling machines for their tables, Shuffle Master decided to change their corporate name to SHFL Entertainment Inc. to reflect the numerous products the company now produces in addition to their eponymously named product.

Details and Timeline of SHFL Entertainment’s Nevada License

• Shuffle Master sent the Nevada Gaming Commission an application to be licensed as a Service Provider in December of 2011, making the company among the first to apply for a license in Nevada, seeking a Class 1 Service Provider License.

• In July of 2012 Shuffle Master joined Ballys and IGT to become one of the first companies that had passed muster in a hearing held by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

• Just a few weeks after receiving the approval of the NGCB Shuffle Master was officially granted its online service provider license on July 26, 2012 from the NGC.

As a Class 1 service provider Shuffle Master is able to provide software and technical support to any licensed online poker provider in Nevada. Class 1 providers work hand-in-hand with the online poker site to supply the best product possible.

Partnerships and Role in the Nevada market

Shuffle Master’s Nevada Service Providers License allows the company to provide their services and product as set forth by the Nevada Gaming Commission which allows the company to:

Acts on behalf of another licensed person who conducts non-restricted gaming operations and who assists, manages, administers or controls wagers or games, or maintains or operates the software or hardware of games on behalf of such a licensed person, and is authorized to share in the revenue from games without being licensed to conduct gaming at an establishment;

As such, Shuffle Master will be looking to partner with one or more online poker operators. At the time of writing Shuffle Master has not found a dance partner, but considering the company’s outstanding track-record and reputation, along with their procuring the coveted Class 1 Service Provider license, it’s probably only a matter of time before Shuffle Master officially dips its toes in the online poker industry.

SHFL Company Overview

Shuffle Master now has their hand in virtually every area of a casino, manufacturing everything from Slot Machines to Table Games, including exclusive rights to a number of pit games, among them the popular casino game Let it Ride, which was created by Shuffle Master founder John Breeding.

Shuffle Master was created in 1983 when founder John Breeding, a former truck-driver, created his first automatic shuffling machine designed to thwart card-counters. It wasn’t until 1992 that Breeding’s shuffling machines gained mainstream acceptance, but once they did orders began flying in, and Shuffle Master went public later that year with an IPO. The company has grown exponentially since these early days, and Breeding moved Shuffle Master from its home in Minnesota to Las Vegas in 1998. Shuffle Master has also become a perennial member of Forbes magazine’s 200 Best Small Companies in America list.

With its history in gaming the company’s decision to apply for an online poker service provider license came as a surprise to nobody.

SHFL Entertainment: Power Players

• Gavin Isaacs – Chief Executive Officer: SHFL’s new CEO Gavin Isaacs has been involved in the gaming industry for well over a decade, holding senior roles at a number of gaming companies including Bally Technologies where he rose to a position of Executive Vice President and COO.

• Roger Snow – Chief Product Officer: Roger Snow has been with Shuffle Master for over a decade and has risen through the ranks of the company to his current role as the man overseeing virtually all of Shuffle Mater’s products and games.

Shuffle Master Board of Directors:

• Garry W. Saunders (Chairman of the Board for SHFL)

• John R. Bailey

• Daniel M. Wade

• Eileen Raney

• Randy Thoman

• Gavin Isaacs (Shuffle Master CEO)

External Links

• Shuffle Master Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/43312?trk=saber_s000001e_1000
• Shuffle Master YouTube Channel: SHFL Entertainment
• Shuffle Master Twitter: @SHFL_News
• Shuffle Master Corporate page:  http://www.shfl.com/

*Resources: www.wikipedia.org, www.shfl.com